They remain defining images of Wayne Rooney's career. The 16-year-old ogre child announcing himself to the world by caressing a dropping ball, spinning 180 degrees and stroking a 25-yarder off the bar against an Arsenal side unbeaten in 30 matches; the raging bullock at Euro 2004 who did not so much prise open defences as blast through them.

A decade on there remains a sense that this Rooney – Rooney Mark I, testosterone-soaked and tender-footed – has not been bettered.

Perhaps that is why Joey Barton's recent comments about him being a fantastic talent but lacking the discipline to be a world-class player found traction. They rang true.

As Barton put it: "When you see Rooney smoking cigarettes is he doing everything he can to be the best player in the world?"

It was classic renaissance-man Barton – a whiff of intelligence and a dab of cordite; reasoned yet cutting. You suspect Rooney's ego, as well as his toe, has been bruised in the past week. Whether Barton is right, though, is another matter. Let's start with his most damning statement, that Rooney has "not been better since he broke on to the scene at Everton" – which is clearly untrue.

No one disputes that the teenage Rooney was some player. Most 18-year-old Brits on their first summer trip to Europe are cocky enough to believe they will score. The difference is at Euro 2004 Rooney did. Four times. Yet when judged on Premier League goals and assists at Everton, Rooney was not quite the buzzcock we often imagine. Time has played tricks.

During his two seasons at Goodison Park, Rooney scored 15 goals and made eight assists. He found the net or set up a goal every 176 minutes, which was hardly world-beating. In every one of his 10 seasons since joining Manchester United – he has been more prolific.

And neither is Rooney slipping, as Barton implied. Quite the opposite. Judged by Premier League goals and assists per 90 minutes, the last three seasons have been the best in his career. In 2011-12, he scored or made an assist every 76 minutes. This season and last it has been a smidge over 90 minutes.

True, goals and assists are not the only measures to judge a playmaker-striker. But they are pretty good starting point.

Since Rooney's debut in 2002-03, no one has scored more Premier League goals than his tally of 171. He is also second in assists on 83, just two behind Frank Lampard.

How does Rooney compare against the best in Europe? Better than you might think. A reasonable starting point is to compare his goals and assists to everyone else in the five major European leagues since 2006-07 – the season Lionel Messi established himself at Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo first scored more than 10 Premier League goals. On that measure, Rooney is the sixth highest goalscorer across the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 with 129 goals.

Admittedly when you look at Rooney's goals per 90 minutes played since 2006-07 he slips down the rankings: Messi averages a goal every 85 minutes, Ronaldo one every 91 minutes, while Rooney's figure is one every 150 minutes. But he is still in the top 10 on average assists per 90 minutes.

Does that make Rooney Mark II world class? It depends. On your definition of world class, how many players you want to allow into football's VVIP area, and whether you take the short or long view.

A case in point: Is Özil world class? If you have only watched him for Arsenal you may have your doubts. But his passes have created more shooting opportunities than anyone else in Europe since 2006-07. That is a special talent. He is one of the best in the world, despite a recent fallow period.

It is understandable to think that Rooney wears a scent of unfulfilled promise, of a career less extraordinary than we once envisaged. But asking how things might have turned out works the other way, too.

In 2004 there were fears that Wazza would become Gazza Mark II. Indeed some seemed to relish it. As a Daily Mail article at the time asked: "Is there some hidden vice, some secret in Rooney's psyche which is yet to emerge? Drink, drugs, wife-beating?"

It hasn't happened. Sure, there have been bumps along the way. But Rooney's career has chugged along with remarkable consistency.

Could he still do more? Of course. Since Euro 2004 he has scored just once at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and Euro 2012. And despite being the leading English Champions League scorer, he needs to shine brighter in the biggest European games.

But let us not be too hard. Rooney can play up top, in the hole, and do the hard yards. He is, depending on manager's orders, leader, creator or scavenger. His record over a decade speaks for itself.

Joey Barton, known for his violence both on and off the pitch, met suspicion when he began to tweet about everything from the FA to Nietzsche. So what's he really like? Over several lunches and a trip to the Lucian Freud exhibition, Alex Clark finds out